Small shower heads for residential sinks, commonly called vegetable sprays, have a tubular handle member connected to the water supply via flexible piping and terminating with a jet breaking or aerating spray head. A valve, which is operably mounted in the tubular stem, is normally closed to the flow of water but it can be open upon actuation. The valve remains open only as long as the valve is actuated and it closes automatically at the end of being actuated. When the valve is open, water spray is emitted from the spray head. A shower head of this type can be directly connected to the water supply, but usually it is connected to a mixing faucet which has a diverter valve mounted therein which feeds both the shower head and the spout of the faucet. The diverter is a device which is usually mounted in a faucet and which is made in such a way that it normally supplies water to the spout when the shower head valve is closed but supplies the shower head when the shower head valve is actuated. With this arrangement, normally water flows through the spout but as soon as the user actuates the valve of the shower head, water flows through the shower head to the exclusion of the spout.
Among the known embodiments, the internal valve which is on the tubular stem of the small shower head is actuated by means of an actuation lever that is manually activated. The use of an actuation lever minimizes the force needed to activate the valve. When pressed, the lever provides for the opening of the valve that permits water to flow through the shower head. A shower head of this type does not require great pressures and the activation of its valve requires a significant force only if the supply pressure is at an unusually high level. The force required is minimal when the supply pressure is limited, for instance, when the shower head is fed through a diverter valve. On the other hand, the utilization of a lever regulated actuation system requires a considerably complicated construction and therefore, the cost of manufacturing and mounting is high and problems can occur relatively easily.
What is needed is a small hand-held shower head for association with a faucet and residential sink adapted for low supply pressure and particularly for a water supply through a diverter valve that has great structural simplicity and therefore results in low cost and trouble free maintenance.